Mask
by Mixed Love
Summary: Did you ever wonder what would happen if Naruto knew how to create a mask? Read and find out.
1. The Beginning P1

At six years old, one could truthfully say that Naruto Uzumaki was an open book. He was loud, obnoxious, colorblind, and always up to mischief. It also didn't help that her was seemingly as dumb as a door knob.

This all would change, however, when he overhears a conversation between a genin team and their sensei.

Huffing and puffing, Naruto barely managed to curl into an abandoned squirrel nest. He'd previously been running away from a couple of bullies who didn't like it that he had taken their self-proclaimed swing set. Naruto arrived just in time to hear a conversation that would change his life forever.

"All right maggots, gather around." The jounin sensei commanded when his team had completed their laps. "Today you're going to learn about masks."

"Masks? Like the ANBU?" one of the genin asked.

"No. These types of masks are more personal." Sensei responded seriously. "Unlike the masks you see the ANBU wearing, or the masks you see for sale during the festivals; these masks are used for deception. The types of masks I'm talking about never fade away. They may disappear, or never be used more than once, but they cling to you for the rest of your lives. Using this type of mask, you can never falter in your façade or else you will be discovered and killed. If you use it enough the mask will become a part of you and you a part of it. Whatever you do, you must never create a mask so close to yourself it's transparent. That is the downfall of many ninja-not just genin or chunin, but also jounin as well." His speech completed the jounin dismissed his team to go and think over what he'd just said. Never did he notice that someone else was listening as well.

Jumping out of his makeshift hiding space Naruto thought about what he'd just heard. _I've never heard about masks before. No one at the playground had ever mentioned one either. Jiji hasn't ever told me of that! Maybe I should create my own mask! Just for fun! Then when_ _ **I**_ _become a ninja, then I'll already have one and be able to skip that step while everyone else is left behind! I'll have the best mask ever! Believe it!_ His resolve settled Naruto raced off towards his beaten down apartment in the Red Zone of Konoha. In his excitement, he completely disregarded the people around him with a one-minded focus to get home and create a mask.


	2. The Beginning P2

Naruto crashed into his apartment with a loud bang, either not hearing or not caring about the shouts coming from the people under his home. Why would he care anyway? It's not like they cared about him.

He sat himself down heavily onto the only battered wooden chair and placed a piece of paper and a pencil on the wobbly table. _How am I supposed to make a mask? He said that it couldn't be too close to the_ real _me, so I should probably start with a name. What should my-their name be? Something so different than my name so that no one will ever think it's me! Benjiro Chiko? No way! I don't want to be called peaceful arrow! Fake name or not!_ He snorted at his own thoughts. _Dai Botan? Generation of long life? Ack! I don't even know if I have any family members! For all I know that could've died because their clans always live short lives. Hoishi Hana? Nah, I'm not a star and I don't know the next thing about flowers. Kane Kami? Perfect! I can be the Fighter of Kami! Except instead of the actual Kami, I'll be my own God!_

On the paper Naruto wrote down Kane Kami as his name. _Well, to be a different person I've gotta have a different hair color, right? But what color? White? No, I'm not a grandpa. Brown? Nope, too dull. Blonde? I'm already a blonde. Red? Right! I'll have red hair! That'll be different._ Next to his-their new name he wrote down red hair.

 _Now for the eyes. Gramps said that the eyes are the most expressive part of a person, so I gotta have different colored eyes so that no one will notice me. My eyes are blue, so I can't have blue eyes. Maybe red? Nah, I'd be mistaken for that stuffie clan near the edge of Konoha. Brown?_ Naruto shook his head. _Too normal. Gray? Eh,_ he shrugged his shoulders, _good enough._ Grey eyes joined the rest of the characteristics on the paper.

 _Now what?_ He already had the eyes, hair, and the name. What else did he need? _Personality! Jiji said that everyone has a different personality! They should have one too! What should it be?_ He scratched at his head. _Quiet? Shy? Can't be loud. Smart? Strong? Curious? Nice? Mysterious? Hmm… they can be smart and quiet and nice, I guess. I mean I'm loud, and Gramps calls me energetic. I suppose that's different enough._ He shrugged his shoulders.

 _What about their parents? I don't have any, so they should have one. But I don't know how parents act._ Naruto suddenly lit up, a great idea coming to him. _Instead of parents they can have a Gramps! Like me! My Gramps can be like their Gramps, and that way I know how they'd act. Gramps can live in a retirement home in the Land of Noodles._ Naruto drooled. _Because he's old. He raised them, then sent them to Konoha to go and find work. Yeah! I'm awesome at this!_

Deciding to check on his progress Naruto scanned down his list. He had the name, hair and eye color, personality, and family. _That's good enough_ , he decided. _Now I'll practice Henge no Jutsu, and tomorrow I'll go and find a job! I'm awesome!_

Excited, he raced into the bathroom where there was the only mirror in his small home. "Let's do this!" he shouted forming the dog, boar, and ram hand signs. "Henge no Jutsu!" After the smoke cleared away Naruto looked at his figure. "Ack!" While he was taller than he originally was. His head was three inched from the ceiling. His body looked oddly lumpy, like a cloud, and his eyes were the color of puke. "Again! Henge no Jutsu!" Poof. This time his head barely reached the sink, his hair was purple, and his feet were huge. "I look like a tiny clown!" He exclaimed. "Ahhh! My voice is squeaky!" "Henge no Jutsu!" Finally, Naruto received the results he wanted. He was to enough to pass for an adult. His body was slender with long fingers. He had red hair going just past his shoulders. And his eyes were the color of storm clouds.

"Perfect! Tomorrow I'll get a job, then I'll have money and I can use the Henge to get my stuff!" his job complete for the day, Naruto demolished a few bowls of instant ramen and crashed in his bed, more than excited for the next day.


	3. Tea Ceremony P1

Naruto woke up excited, today he was going to try on his mask and get a job! He didn't know what type of job he would get, but that can wait a bit. The orange clad boy jumped out of his bed and devoured two cups of veggie ramen. While he didn't like the nasty greens, Jiji had said that he had to eat them if he wanted to be taller.

After a quick breakfast, Naruto raced into the bathroom and henged into Kane Kami, his mask. Peeking at the mirror just to make sure that everything was as it should be he nodded to himself and set out to the market, locking the door behind him-not that it helped, but oh well.

Once at the market place, Naruto scanned the area wondering where to start. Luckily, the choice was made for him when a cabbage salesman called out to him.

"Young lad," the salesman waved him over. "Are you looking for someone?"

Kane rubbed his head shyly. "Not really, Oji-san. You see I'm looking for a job."

"Ah," the old man understood. "Are you new to Konoha? I haven't seen you around before."

 _Here's the part when my mask gets put to the test!_ Naruto thought. "Hai. Oji-sama sent me off to come here and make an honest living now that I am old enough."

"Where did you come from?" the nosy man asked.

"Udon no Kuni. That's where Oi-sama is too, in the retirement home." Kane replied looking slightly down heartened.

"Well then," the salesmen leaned back satisfied with the information. "If my memory serves me right, Kenji-kun has been running around lately looking for people to hire."

"Does Kenji-san own a business?" Kane asked politely.

"Kenji-kun?" the old man looked up in shock. "Heavens no, that boy works for Rei-sama the owner of one of the upper scale cafes."

"Oh," Kane nodded like he understood. "What does Kenji-kun look like then?"

"He's got lavender hair and eyes like the Uchiha-" the old man cuts himself off and pointed at a figure rapidly running up to them. "I'll be, there he is right now!"

Running up to them was a tall boy with dark eyes and a tail of lavender hair flowing from behind him. The boy braked to a harsh stop in front of Kane.

"You!" he yelled. "What's your name?"

"Kami Kane. Hajimemashite!" he bowed.

"You're perfect! Oh, I'm Kenji Kousuke." Kenji-san bows back.

Introductions over with, Kenji grabs Kane's wrist and takes off back the direction he came. "Rei-sama ordered me to find another worker, so I'm bringing you to her. Sorry for the inconvenience!"

Bewildered, Kane lets himself be dragged along behind the lavender haired boy. _At least I didn't have to go job searching,_ Kane shrugs, still being dragged.


	4. Tea Ceremony P2

"I'm really sorry about this!" Kenji said to him, still running through the crowded streets. "Rei-sama expected me to bring in the new worker today, but the hotel he was supposed to be staying in told me he never showed up. I was panicking, then I saw you, and you look just like him!"

Braking to a harsh stop, Kenji bursts through the red oak wood doors of a fancy looking restaurant.

"Rei-sama! Rei-sama! I've found him!" He exclaimed severely out of breath.

"What took you so long, Kenji! You were supposed to have been here half an hour ago!" A severe looking woman scolded.

"I apologize for the inconvenience," Kane said bowing to the woman. "I got lost in the crowd of the market."

"I don't need your excuses," Rei-sama hissed at him before she turned to Kenji and said, "Take him to the changing rooms, and both of you get changed. We're short of staff and the restaurant opens in 10."

"Yes, Rei-sama," Kenji replied dragging Kane into the changing rooms.

"I'm so sorry, Kane-san," he said bowing repeatedly. "I didn't mean to get you into this mess, well, mostly, you did look a lot like the missing worker, though."

"It's alright, Kenji-san, I was looking for a job anyway." Consoled Kane.

"It really isn't, Kane-san. Oh, call me Kenji, please. I was looking for a person named Arata Hamacho, but when I got to the hotel he was supposed to be staying at, the staff told me that he had never shown up in the first place. I started panicking, then I saw you in the market talking to Jiro-san and I hadn't seen you before and you looked just like what Hamacho was supposed to, so I grabbed you and took you to Rei-sama." Kenji stopped, took a great gulp of air, then continued, " Rei-sama was mad I was late and I was about to give her an excuse, but then you spoke up and Rei-sama got mad at you for speaking out of turn. I'm super sorry for abducting you, though because Hamacho made a deal with Rei-sama that if he did a satisfactory job at her restaurant that she would give him a recommendation to another job if he wanted one."

When Kenji stopped to take another breath, Kane cut in before he could start talking once more," If I call you Kenji then you have to call me Kane, and it's honestly okay that you kidnapped me. I told you that I was looking for a job, and if I have to impersonate another person then so be it. After we're done with our shift we can tell Rei-sama about what happened and see what she says, alright?"

After a moment of contemplation, Kenji nodded. "We'll tell her after our shift is over; hopefully she won't be too mad. That taken care of, do you know how to do a tea ceremony?"

Kane looked at him as if he was crazy, "I come from the Noodle Country, what would we need tea ceremonies for?"

Kenji flushed, "Well how would I know? Anyways, Rei-sama will be doing the important parts all we need to do is deliver the food, collect the plates when the guests are finished eating, and one of us holds open the door when Rei-sama's ready to receive the guests. Once all the guests are bowed through the door, don't forget to bow to them, the guests will bow to Rei-sama, not us because we're the servants.

After, we bring out the tools and set them down in front of Rei-sama for her to clean. During the actual tea ceremony, we are not to be present. Rei-sama will ring a bell when we're allowed back in. When the bell rings we collect the tools and bow to each of the guests and Rei-sama. If we don't it's considered extremely disrespectful and we could be fired."

Kenji took a deep breath and looked back at Kane, "You got all of that?"

Kane turned to him with a dazed expression, "I think that you will have to remind me when we get to each part. How many tea ceremonies are we going to be having?"

Kenji thought for a moment before saying, "Around five, I believe. Not all of our guests are wealthy enough to afford the meal and the tea ceremony, so we'll probably only be serving two or three meals."

"Alright," nodded Kane. "What are we supposed to wear?"

"Kimonos and white tabi, with a hakama, of course!" chirped Kenji. "If we expect the guests to dress fancy, then we must dress fancy as well."

Following his words, Kenji dug into the closet next to them that was stuffed full of different articles of clothing. When he emerged, Kenji shoved a plain dark blue kimono at him, keeping a dark gray one for himself.

"Here, it complements your eyes and doesn't clash with your hair."

Both of them rapidly got dressed in their kimonos, sensitive to the dwindling amount of time they had left to change. After Kenji checked Kane's kimono to make sure everything was on properly, he gave Kane a burnt orange hakama and got dressed in his own indigo colored they both looked presentable in their outfits, Kenji opened a pack of traditional white tabi and tossed a pair to Kane for him to wear.

"You're responsible for cleaning these, then returning them." He said.

Once they both had the proper clothing on, Kenji pulled them out of the door, nearly colliding with his boss.

"What took so long, Kenji! We open in 2, get into your position!" Rei-sama hissed as she blew passed them on her way to the kitchen.

"Yes, Rei-sama," Kenji said to her back as he continued to pull Kane to a set of traditional doors. "We start here for the guests having a meal first. When you open the door make sure your left-hand pulls first about three-quarters of the way, then use your right hand to pull it open the rest."

"Okay," Kane nodded.

"Like I said earlier, make sure you bow to the guests when they come in. Don't bow to all of them because if you do you'll end up looking stupid, but bow to the first and the last person. After that, we bow again to the guests when Rei-sama does, then bow to Rei-sama as we leave. When we're leaving, we bow standing from our waist, before backing out the door. Don't close the door after Rei-sama, close it after we leave." Kenji rushed as they both sat in a folded position. "Do you remember what I said about the bells?"

"Yes," Kane nodded. "When she rings the bell we come in, collect the tools, and bow to all the guests. If we don't bow we could be fired."

"That's the gist of it! Ready?" He asked.

"Ready."

Soon after, Rei-sama opened the doors and took her place at the head of the low set table, acting as if they weren't there, and closed the door behind her.


	5. Tea Ceremony P3

Another person walked to the front of the door, Kane and Kenji carefully pulled the doors open, left hand over right, and bowed the person in. Like Rei-sama, the man didn't pay them any heed as he walked through. Person after person walked through the door and as the last person walked through, they bowed to her and stood up. Kane barely hid his stumble as blood rushed back through his legs. Kane bowed to the guests and his temporary boss, then, staying in his bowed position, he backed out of the room with Kenji.

"Alright let's go," Kenji told Kane, leading him to the kitchens. "We need to bring in the equipment, hurry!"

Walking briskly, Kane followed Kenji into the kitchens, grabbed a set of dishes and went back out.

"When you put the dishes down, make sure to put them on her right side while I lay out the tools on her left," Kenji informed Kane.

"Okay," Kenji confirmed.

Carefully, they opened the doors and walked through until they were on each side of Rei-sama. While Kenji swiftly laid out the various tools, Kane quietly set the dishes next to her. When Kane was about to turn and exit, a hand was laced on his foot. Hesitating, Kane shook the hand off of his foot and left the ceremony room.

"Why did you pause?" Kenji asked as they both sat on one of the empty cushions.

"Someone grabbed my foot!" Kane hissed, creeped out and angry that someone would grab his foot while he was trying to do his job.

"What?" Kenji exclaimed. "Who grabs a person's foot during a tea ceremony?"

"A creep," Kane replied. "Only a creep would do something so weird during a tea ceremony.

"As disturbing as that is," Kenji started. "We need to set up plates for the guests who're going to be eating."

"When are those guest going to be arriving?" Kane inquired.

"Probably some time near the end of this ceremony, but we won't be the ones serving them. After the first ceremony is over with, we go on our lunch break." Kenji stated.

"Wouldn't that be a bit early for lunch?" Kane questioned.

"It's not a real lunch break actually," Kenji conceded. "It pretty much consists of the chefs stuffing us with their creations and asking us which one tastes the best."

"That sounds tasty," Kane licked his lips at the thought of it.

"Sometimes it is," Kenji agreed. "But other times you have to eat things like chocolate and onion soup, or orange caramel ice cream. Let me tell you, some of their creations may look good, but they taste disgusting."

Pulling a face, Kane agreed with his opinion.

They entered a kitchen and a person greeted them as they came in.

"Kenji!" the person declared. "What took so long? Did you take another break?"

"No, Masoto," Kenji laughed and clasped a hand on Kane's back. "I was with Kane at the tea ceremony."

"Oh? The new guy?" Masoto took a deep look at Kane. "Nice to meet you! I'm Maki Masoto, but call me Masoto please!"

"Ohayo, Masoto. My name is Kami Kane. Call me Kane!" Kane bowed to him.

"Masoto here is the meat chef," Kenji told Kane with a grin. "I'll introduce you to everyone before we go out to set the tables."

"Haruko!" Kenji called out, attracting the attention of a blue-haired lady.

"What is it, Kenji? Some of us actually have jobs to do around here," she growled.

"This is Kami Kane! He's the new waiter," Kenji introduced.

"Nice to meet you, Kami-san," Haruko nodded. "I'm Saitou Haruko, call me Haruko."

Kane bowed to her, "Call me Kane, please."

"She's the soup chef," Kenji told him as Haruko went back to her simmering pots. "She's also the one who created that onion chocolate soup."

"I'll introduce you to the fish specialist next," Kenji decided, dragging Kane further into the kitchen.

"Jun, this is Kami Kane!"

The large man turned to face them, "Nice to meet you, call me Jun."

Kane nodded to him, "Call me Kane."

"Noboru!" Kenji called out to the round man kneading the dough. "Come and meet the new waiter!"

Never stopping his kneading, Noboru said, "Nice to meet you."

Used to the lack of attention, Kane replied, "Hello, please call me Kane."

Next, Kenji pointed out the rest of the staff. There was Fumiko, the salad chef, Benjiro the Sous chef, Ryoto the grill chef who wasn't here today, Kaoru the saucier, Kura the vegetable cook, Suguru the Pantry chef, Maeko, Hachi, and Haru the line chefs, and Gou the executive chef.

At the end of the introductions, Kenji asked Kane, "Did you notice how there weren't any servers other than us?"

"Yeah," Kane nodded. He was curious about the lack of them because he wasn't planning on being at the restaurant daily.

"The way we do servers is in shifts. So while we may work from afternoon until night another shift works from morning to noon. We also shift days. That way we all get equal pay as the restaurant keeps changing styles." Kenji explained.

The bell rang from the ceremonial room.

"Shoot!" Kenji exclaimed pulling them both towards the ceremonial tea rooms doors. "Remember, collect the tools, bow to all of the guests, then to Rei-sama."

Kenji slid open the doors and stepped in with Kane. They quickly gathered the whisk, cup, teapot, and cleaning utensils between them. After steadying the dishes in their arms, they carefully bowed to each of the guests and to Rei-sama before scrambling back out.

"How come we don't need to bow the guests out of the ceremony room?" Kane asked.

"That's Rei-sama's job," Kenji replied, dumping his armful onto one of the kitchen counters and signaling Kane to do the same. "She decides when the ceremony is actually over, and since they're her guests she bows to them last.

Kenji quickly separated the cleaning utensils from the rest. "Now we need to go and get a new set of cleaning stuff."

"We don't need to wash the bowl?"

"Nah, Rei-sama does that in front her the guests to show its purity or something."

"How do you know so much about everything?" Kane questioned, following Kenji to the back of the kitchen to where the storage cabinets were.

"I've been working here for years," Kenji explained, handing Kane a box containing the cleaning materials. "Even though the servers work in shifts, the restaurant itself changes styles as well. We have to learn the steps to each style Rei-sama picks because she never tells us who's going to be serving for each type of style."

Kenji directed Kane to put the used cleaning materials into a small hamper that was kept inside the storage unit while he laid out the new ones.

"What types of styles has the restaurant done?"

"Let's see," Kenji thought it over. "We've done ramen, soba, yakitori, tempura, sushi, and okonomiyaki. We've probably done more, but I can't remember them."

"We have done more," Rei-sama said, stepping into the kitchen. "I'm thinking about expanding our restaurant into more styles, so expect an information packet soon."


End file.
